178 BRITISH BIRDS. 



This solitary bird is chiefly found on wild heaths 

 and commons, where it feeds on small worms and 

 insects of all kinds. They build at the roots of 

 bushes, or underneath stones, carefully concealing 

 the entrance to the nest by a variety of arts: it 

 generally alights at some distance, and makes 

 its' approaches with great circumspection, creep- 

 ing along the ground in a winding direction, so 

 that it is a difficult matter to discover its retreat. 

 They build about the end of March, and lay five 

 or six eggs of a greenish blue, faintly freckled 

 with pale rust colour. The flight of the Stone- 

 chat is low: it is almost continually on the wing, 

 flying from bush to bush, alighting only for a few 

 seconds. It remains with us the whole year, and 

 in winter frequents moist places, in quest of food. 

 Buffon compares its note to the word wistrata 

 frequently repeated. Latham observes, that it 

 seemed to him like the clicking of two stones 

 together, from which circumstance it probably 

 may have derived its name. 



